Suit Accuses UC Regent of Bias, Sexual Harassment

SACRAMENTO â€”  A former employee has sued University of California Regent Ward Connerly, accusing him of discrimination, sexual harassment and blackballing her for other jobs.

Court documents accompanying the lawsuit include a statement by another woman who claims that Connerly pressured her for sex, offered her perks in return for intimacies and then harassed her after she ended the alleged relationship.

Connerly, who is leading the campaign for a California ballot proposition that would end many affirmative action programs, said the lawsuit is politically motivated.

“I’ve taken a position on a public policy issue that I believe in very strongly, and I think that people should be able to discuss their positions without being smeared,� Connerly said. “It’s less than 30 days before the election, and lo and behold there’s a lawsuit that was filed in May and sat on until now. Every word of it is a lie. It’s dirty, it’s just outright dirty,� he said.

But Sacramento lawyer Thea Offenbacher, the attorney for plaintiff Donna Ransom, denied that the lawsuit is connected to political opposition to Proposition 209.

“We’ve not talked to anyone regarding 209. We have not given them any money,� Offenbacher said. “This has been developing over years, and we are on our own time.�

Proposition 209 would prohibit racial or gender preferences in public hiring, education and contracting. Opponents say it is intended to kill affirmative action, while backers say it is intended to eliminate all forms of discrimination.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in May and amended this month, concerns alleged events between 1989 and 1994, when Ransom worked in Connerly’s planning and consulting firm, Connerly and Associates.

Ransom is currently disabled and unemployed, her attorney said.

The lawsuit seeks at least $26,000 in back pay, $500,000 in punitive damages and $100,000 in attorney fees. A jury trial is tentatively scheduled for early 1998.